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And not a game but August 19, 2008 No QPR-Genoa Friendly-
There were messageboard reports that QPR would be playing a friendly
against Genoa. Now this announcement on the official site saying no
friendly "Genoa Friendly Off." There never was any official announcement
by QPR - or by Genoa (as far as I could find) - that there would be a
Friendly. .

QPR Official Site - GENOA FRIENDLY OFFDespite reports to the contrary, QPR will not be playing Genoa in a friendly later this month.We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused. QPR

August 19, 2008 But we did play a closed-door friendly vs West Ham (2-2) which
the club DID report on - QPR Squad: Crowther, Oastler, Stewart, Harris,
Femy, Alberti, Rowlands, Bolder, Di Carmine, Ephraim, Rose, Bulmer,
Flood, Arthur, Maguire, Nanetti, Ford. QPR On This Day

We did not deserve anything from this game because of the manner of our performance"

Mark Hughes

MARK
HUGHES labelled QPR’s first performance of the season against Swansea
as “unacceptable” as he watched his side lose 5-0 at Loftus Road.

The
Swans took the lead through Michu before second-half goals from Michu,
Nathan Dyer and Scott Sinclair sealed the win for the South Wales
outfit.

“The only positive was the start we made to the game,” Hughes told www.qpr.co.uk. “I thought we were positive and comfortable in the opening period.

“The
worst-case scenario when you play Swansea is you concede first, because
then they can keep possession, frustrate you and pick you off.
Unfortunately that’s what happened all game from their opening goal
onwards.

“Our tempo wasn’t quick enough so they were able to get
people behind the ball. Our passing was poor on the day and they picked
us off at will.

“Towards the end of the game we were chasing it
and committing people forward, and Swansea ere very adept at picking the
right pass at the right time.

“Unfortunately a lot of our fundamentals which we work on week in, week out went out the window and that is unacceptable.

When
asked about the nature of the first Swans goal, Hughes said: “Rob Green
will be disappointed with it but I was more concerned with what was
going on in front of him. We have got to be better in that respect.

“There
is still a lot of work to do. It was a wake-up call. Maybe everybody
was getting a little but excited about what’s ahead of us but we, as a
group, understand there’s a lot of hard work needed.

“Today
wasn’t the level I expect us to perform at. You can make all the excuses
in the world that it was a hot day and the first game of the season,
but that doesn’t wash with me. We need to perform better.

“In the
end we were ragged, made bad decisions, the accuracy of our passing was
poor all day and as a consequence we got picked off very easily.

“All credit to Swansea, they played exceptionally well and they took their chances when they came.”

At
the start of the second-half, with Swansea 1-0 ahead, Junior Hoilett
seemed to be brought down in the area but Rangers’ appeals for a penalty
were dismissed by referee Lee Probert.

“You’ve seen them given,” Hughes added, “and that would have been a boost for us because we were ok in the initial period.

“But in the end we did not deserve anything from this game because of the manner of our performance.

BEMUSED
QPR boss Mark Hughes felt his side paid the penalty for chasing the
game as Swansea City marked the start of the Michael Laudrup era with a
sensational victory.

Swansea notched up their biggest away win
for five years – but Hughes felt it was a Loftus Road defeat entirely of
Rangers’ making.

“After the first goal we basically played into Swansea’s hands,” bemoaned the former Wales manager.

“It was an ideal scenario for them to score first because of the way they keep possession and invite teams onto them.Speedway

“I’m
sure that was perfect for their game plan. We were disappointed with
the first goal we conceded and after that we were always trying to chase
the game.

“That was certainly the case in the latter periods when we got ragged and didn’t stick to our fundamentals.

“If you do that in the Premier League you get picked off and Swansea are adept at that as they proved.

“Initially I thought we started very brightly but they scored against the run of play.

“And, after that, our performance to get Premier League points was nowhere near the level we need to be at.”

Neil Warnock’s Rangers suffered a similar opening-day embarrassment at home to Bolton 12 months ago when they lost 4-0.

But Hughes – who kept Rangers up on the final day of last season – insisted there was no time to mope about the result.

“We’ve got to pick ourselves up, we didn’t envisage that, but maybe it’s good that it’s come now,” he said.

“We’re
under no false pretences that this is going to be a real difficult
league this year but we have the capability and talent in the group to
do well. We’ve got to do the right things at the right time but,
unfortunately, our decision-making was poor as was our passing and
accuracy.

“The more it went on the worse we got, people were just running out of position trying to make things happen.

“It’s
difficult when you’re chasing the game at home because you want to do
well for your fans and want to show that you’re trying to affect the
game.

“But when you do that you’ve still got to do the
fundamentals as well, keep your discipline and defensive work. But
because we were poor we got picked off at the end.”

Hughes
praised Swansea for their passing principles which Laudrup has been keen
to preach while perhaps getting the ball forward slightly quicker into
offensive positions.

“They kept the ball well and knocked it around a bit,” he said.

“They
possibly popped the wider players in a little bit more, they were a bit
more narrow and played between the lines – but I felt the result was
down more to our lack of nous.

“We talked about their shape and what we were going to try to do to them but we didn’t execute that.

“We played three in there to match them in the middle of the park and, initially, I felt it was working well.

“Once we went behind we lost our shape but it’s one game.

“We have a chance now to get another 37 opportunities to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“It’s about making sure that we learn from today and take the positives from it.

“Ji-Sung Park was one of those positives, he kept going and tried to galvanise the team.

“His energy was really important for us but there weren’t too many helping him.

“We’ll address that and hopefully the whole group will be better next week.

“In the end we were going down blind alleys. It was a collective thing and we need to be better as a team.

“It
was a really warm day and it was hard for them to effect the game when
we went behind – but I expected much more of a performance than was
delivered.”

Hughes, though, did feel that Rangers might have had a
penalty with the score standing at 1-0 early in the second half when
Junior Hoilett tumbled under Angel Rangel’s challenge.

“I’ve seen
them given,” he said. “The referee was right on the spot, his position
was good, but his interpretation of that was it didn’t merit a penalty,
so you accept that.”

Miguel
Michu and Nathan Dyer both scored twice as Swansea City condemned Mark
Hughes’s new-look QPR side to a crushing opening-day defeat on Saturday
afternoon.

Michu struck early in each half, scoring with a shot
which new Rangers keeper Rob Green should have saved in the first half,
and adding a clinical second after half-time.

Dyer added a third
for Michael Laudrup’s side just after the hour-mark, tapped in a fourth
as Rangers fell apart, before Scott Sinclair fired in a fifth to seal a
quite stunning win for Swansea.

It was a result which – with
striking similarities to last season’s opening day defeat to Bolton
Wanderers, raises serious question-marks for a QPR side who invested so
heavily during pre-season.

Four of Hughes’s summer signings were
on show here, with Rob Green in goal, Fabio at left-back, Ji-Sung Park
in midfield and Hoilett on the left of a three-man attack, while Andy
Johnson came on in the second half, to no avail.

Despite a
promising spell in the first half, when QPR created several good
chances, the home side played without cohesion for much of the match.
More worrying still was the manner in which they capitulated once Michu
scored the visitors’ second.

After a fairly sedate opening,
Swansea stunned the hosts by taking an eighth-minute lead. Impressive
approach play from Wayne Routledge ended with Michu trying his luck from
the edge of the area, and his shot slipped through Green’s hands to
nestle in the keeper’s bottom left corner.

The home side
responded well, and dominated the next 30 minutes, carving out plenty of
chances. Jamie Mackie should have scored but could only scuff a
close-range shot at Michel Vorm. Adel Taarabt and Samba Diakite had
efforts blocked, while Fabio curled an effort over the crossbar.

In
contrast to Green’s disastrous start, Junior Hoilett was revelling in
his left-wing role. The former Blackburn man was all energy and running,
and might have scored a fine equaliser when he cut in from the wing and
curled a shot two feet wide of Vorm’s post. He came close again shortly
afterwards, beating Vorm to Fabio’s chipped pass put floating his
header across goal and wide.

But despite QPR’s dominance, they
should have fallen further behind before half-time, as Swansea twice
struck the woodwork. Ashley Williams provided the first scare, his
powerful header from Jonathan de Guzman’s corner crashing back into play
off the face of the crossbar.

With Rangers suddenly under
pressure, another de Guzman corner left Green stranded and fell to
Michu, who lashed a shot onto the face of the bar. Routledge hooked the
rebound into the stand.

Hoilett was straight into the action at
the start of the second half, driving into the area and tumbling under
Angel Rangel’s challenge, but referee Lee Probert waved play-on.

Swansea
made it 2-0 eight minutes into the second half. Routledge led a swift
counter-attack into the QPR half and played in Michu, who swept a
first-time finish into the top corner.

Things went from bad to
worse for QPR, as Swansea quickly added a third. Routledge was again the
architect, threading a pass which Clint Hill failed to intercept,
allowing Dyer to find the corner.

Dyer then lost his marker to
prod in past Green, before second-half substitute Sinclair got in on the
act, cracking in a shot which gave Green no chance.

Extremely
early days it may be but it appears that life after Brendan Rodgers is
not going to be terrible for Swansea after all. Quite the opposite, if
this first game of the Michael Laudrup era is anything to go by: a
resounding victory secured on the back of a stylish display and one in
which the club's new signings all impressed. A dream start for the man
who was part of Barcelona's "Dream Team".

Laudrup is not the type
to get carried away but even he is sure to feel a surge of optimism
following this win – Swansea's first on the opening day of a season in
seven attempts. Of particular delight for the Dane will be the
contribution of Michu, the elegant Spanish midfielder who scored two of
Swansea's goals, the second a sublime first-time curling shot from the
edge of the area.

The 26-year-old was signed for £2m from Rayo
Vallecano in the summer having scored 15 goals in La Liga last season,
the most by any midfielder in Spain's top flight, prompting observers to
wonder if he would go on to be the Premier League's bargain acquisition
of the season. So far, so very good.

There were also impressive displays from fellow summer signings Chico Flores and Jonathan de Guzmán.

All
contributed to a composed team performance that suggests Swansea will
continue to put an emphasis on possession but have added a ruthless
streak that could mean they match or even better last season's
11th-place finish. "Winning on my debut, away from home, 5-0, nobody
could have dreamed of that," Laudrup said. "I'm very happy for the
players. It is very important to know you can win away games, it gives
you a lot of confidence for the rest of the season.

"He [Michu]
did great. When you take players from abroad you look at the quality but
it is also important to look at the personality and making sure they
can fit into this way of playing and culture. These [new] players have
all played for small clubs – Chico and Jonathan for Mallorca, Michu for
Rayo, but they all have the personality to do well."

Laudrup also
rightly praised the contributions of the two wide men he deployed,
Wayne Routledge, who played a part in Swansea's opening three goals, and
Nathan Dyer, who also scored twice. Substitute Scott Sinclair sealed
the rout in the 81st minute.

For Queens Park Rangers there was
little to cheer about. Having succeeded in defying relegation last
season and gone on to sign eight players during the summer, five of whom
started here, expectations were high. But, for a second ​season
running, they have suffered a home mauling on the first day.

No
one will be feeling worse than Rob Green, who on his debut following a
free transfer from West Ham was at fault for the opening goal, allowing
Michu's curling shot following Routledge's driving run to squirm past
his grasp after eight minutes. The comparisons with what happened to the
goalkeeper during the last World Cup was obvious, although the mistake
that meant Clint Dempsey scored in England's opening game of the
tournament against the United States was arguably more horrendous.

QPR,
to their credit, drove on and created enough chances before half-time
to have taken the lead, most notably from another of Mark Hughes's
summer signings, Junior Hoilett, who saw a curling shot and a header go
just wide.

The hosts, captained by another new recruit, Park
Ji-sung, continued to dominate possession but Swansea remained composed
and could have extended their lead prior to the interval when Flores and
Michu both struck the bar from close range.

Michu, who was a
strong, skilful presence behind Swansea's lone striker, Danny Graham,
was not to be denied and scored again on 53 minutes, in style, following
another Routledge run. Dyer got his first 10 minutes later after Clint
Hill had failed to clear Routledge's through pass and struck again on 71
minutes from close range.

QPR were shell-shocked, with their
linkup play becoming increasingly ragged and it was little surprise when
Sinclair made it 5-0, the winger having come on to the sound of boos
from the away supporters for expressing a desire to leave Swansea.

Those
same fans were cheering again soon after, though, having heard that
Liverpool, the club Rodgers departed from Swansea to join, had lost 3-0
to West Bromwich Albion.

For QPR there is now a need to reflect
before Saturday's visit to Norwich. "We've got to pick ourselves up,"
Hughes said. "We're now under no false pretences about how difficult
this league is. But we have a talented group and I'm sure they can learn
from today."